Lighter Chicken Enchiladas

With it being Cinco de Mayo, I decided Mexican food would be right for dinner.  The subject of enchiladas has come up a few times in the last couple of weeks so I went with that.  I have made enchiladas before but always used the canned sauce.  I have really gotten into cooking from scratch so looked for a recipe with homemade enchilada sauce.  I also wanted to use more of our leftover turkey so I looked for a chicken recipe.  I found a recipe by Martha Stewart for lighter enchiladas.  I was a little nervous about the “lighter” recipe but decided to give it a shot.  If I can enjoy enchiladas without breaking the diet completely, even better.

Lighter Chicken Enchiladas

Coarse salt and ground pepper

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, I like grapeseed

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons minced canned chipotles in adobo

14 1/2 ounces reduced-sodium chicken stock

8 tortillas

2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese (8 ounces)

Cilantro

I preheat the oven to 400-degrees, warmed the turkey in a skillet and set it aside in a bowl.  

I heated the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  I added the garlic and heated it for about a minute until it became aromatic.  I added the flour, cumin and chipotles in adobo and whisked it while cooking it for one minute.  I whisked in the stock and 1/2 cup of water and then brought it to a boil.  I reduced the heat and simmered the sauce, whisking occasionally, until it thickened slightly, which took about eight minutes.  I seasoned the sauce with salt and pepper, tasting to make sure it was right.  I thought the sauce was pretty spicy, but when I put the enchiladas together, the heat mellowed out a little too much.  The next time I will add more chipotles.

I added one cup of the sauce, 1/2 cup of the cheese and a good pinch of cilantro to the turkey and mixed them together.  I poured 1/4 cup of sauce in the bottom of a baking dish and set it aside.

While the sauce was cooking I brushed the tortillas with oil and popped them in the oven on a baking sheet for five minutes to make them more pliable, a technique I had recently seen on America’s Test Kitchen.  Unfortunately, I put them on the bottom rack of the oven and some of the edges got crispy.  The original recipe suggests stacking the tortillas, wrapping them in a double layer of damp paper towels and then heating them in the microwave for about a minute.  That definitely seems the easier method and would not have the extra calories from the oil, but I wanted to use the new technique I had learned.

I filled the tortillas with the turkey mixture and rolled them up tightly, placing them in the baking dish with the seam side down.  I poured the remaining sauce over the tortillas and topped them with the rest of the cheese.  The original recipe only calls for 1/2 cup of cheese over the top and no cheese in the filling, which would be a much lighter dish than what I made.  I baked it in the oven until it was hot and bubbling, about 20 minutes.

After removing the dish from the oven, I let it rest for five minutes.  I served the enchiladas with arugula, tomatoes, sliced avocado and radishes and topped them with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of cilantro.  Obviously, for the lighter version, the sour cream would be a no-no.  This was a fairly easy recipe for tasty enchiladas, just one ingredient short of spectacular.